S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    456
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A. L. ROSENTHAL, BENEDETTO, PAULIN, ENGLEBRIGHT,
   WEPRIN, OTIS, SANTABARBARA, FAHY, DiPIETRO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M.
   of A. COLTON, DINOWITZ, GLICK, HEVESI, LUPARDO,  McDONOUGH,  PERRY  --
   read once and referred to the Committee on Agriculture

 AN  ACT  to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to aggra-
   vated cruelty to animals
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivisions  1 and 2 of section 353-a of the agriculture
 and markets law, as added by chapter  118  of  the  laws  of  1999,  are
 amended to read as follows:
   1.  A  person is guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals when, with no
 justifiable purpose, he or  she  intentionally  kills  or  intentionally
 causes  serious  physical  injury  to a companion animal OR WILDLIFE, AS
 DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION SIX  OF  SECTION  11-0103  OF  THE  ENVIRONMENTAL
 CONSERVATION  LAW,  OTHER  THAN  INSECTS, with aggravated cruelty.   For
 purposes of this section, "aggravated cruelty" shall mean conduct which:
 (i) is intended to cause extreme physical  pain;  or  (ii)  is  done  or
 carried out in an especially depraved or sadistic manner.
   2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit or
 interfere  in any way with anyone lawfully engaged in hunting, trapping,
 or fishing, as provided in article eleven of the environmental conserva-
 tion law, ACTIVITIES DEEMED TO BE SOUND AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES  PURSUANT
 TO SECTION THREE HUNDRED EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER, the dispatch of rabid or
 diseased animals, as provided in article twenty-one of the public health
 law, or the dispatch of animals posing a threat to human safety or other
 animals, where such action is otherwise legally authorized, or any prop-
 erly  conducted scientific tests, experiments, or investigations involv-
 ing the use of living animals, performed or conducted in laboratories or

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD00347-01-1

 A. 456                              2
 
 institutions approved for such purposes by the  commissioner  of  health
 pursuant to section three hundred fifty-three of this article.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.